EEOC,
in cooperation with the National Association of Manufacturers,
holds a nationwide closed circuit teleconference on equal
employment opportunities which is telecast simultaneously to 14
cities. The teleconference provides an opportunity for
approximately 2,800 business men and women to hear Commissioners
and EEOC managers discuss the responsibilities and obligations of
employers under Title VII and to have their questions on fair
employment laws answered by a panel of experts.

In
December, EEOC petitions the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) to reject a massive long-distance telephone rate increase
sought by the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. (AT&T). It
was not clear whether EEOC could actually intervene before a
federal regulatory agency. EEOC's petition is the first attempt by
a federal civil rights agency to enlist the support of a federal
regulatory agency in the battle to eliminate job discrimination.
EEOC's petition argues that the granting of a rate increase by the
FCC would be both unconstitutional and contrary to the public
interest because AT&T had engaged and continued to engage in
extensive violations of federal and state prohibitions against
discrimination in employment. The Commission had received more than
1,500 charges against AT&T which represents 7 percent of EEOC's
workload. EEOC argues that employment discrimination at the
telephone company cause high turnover between employees and other
inefficiencies which in turn raise operating costs. Civil rights
groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP), the Mexican American Legal Defense and
Education Fund (MALDEF) and the National Organizational of Women
(NOW) also charge the phone company with employment discrimination
against minorities and women.

EEOC
holds public hearings in Houston, the largest population center in
the south. EEOC is concerned that despite an expanding economy and
rising employment opportunities, minorities are concentrated in
unskilled, lower-paying occupations. Of the 31 companies asked to
testify, 19 refuse. None of the eight large unions invited to
testify responds. EEOC issues a report documenting continuing
inequalities in employment and only minimal improvement since
passage of Title VII. The report states that "[t]he Commission was
startled by the gap between promise and performance in Houston,"
and urges Congress to grant the agency "law enforcement powers."
The Los Angeles Times of June 8, 1970 reports:

The complaint of blacks is that they have trained hundreds
and hundreds of white persons who have gone on to become their
bosses and their bosses' bosses, testified Pluria Marshall . . .
.

The four days of hearings also brought out the fact that
there was a formidable distance between a firm's official hiring
practice and what really occurs in the personnel office. In
Houston, where there are jobs available, many firms still require
all employees to have at least a high school diploma. This
automatically disqualifies many minority groups, particularly
Mexican Americans, and sets standards far higher than indicated
necessary by job analysis, according to Dr. William H. Enneis, an
EEOC psychiatrist.

Another hurdle for minorities is the testing method used by
most firms, he said. Most testing falls short of any mark of
achievement . . . most of the time the tests are not applied
correctly, they are not closely related to the job, some purposely
weed out minorities and -- most important -- are based on the
assumption that minority applicants have been exposed to the same
general opportunity as Caucasians.

Many of the black leaders who testified said that despite
grandiose statements from large industries, hiring practices still
go no further than tokenism and many Negroes are employed simply as
'window dressing' for some firms.

The hearing was unique in one respect. It was the first time
that a number of women had testified at such length about sex
discrimination in jobs.

EEOC
publishes revised Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures,
which interpret Title VII to permit only professionally developed
ability and aptitude tests that are job related and consistent with
business necessity. Tests are valid only if they accurately predict
job performance or relate to the actual skills required by the
job.

EEOC
issues Guidelines on Discrimination Because of National Origin.
EEOC declares that the ban on national origin discrimination
extends to characteristics generally associated with a particular
national origin. Employers are prohibited from discriminating on
the basis of language requirements, height and weight standards, or
ethnic stereotypes.

Working to develop close relationships with other federal agencies,
EEOC enters into its first Memorandum of Understanding with the
Department of Labor (DOL). DOL enforces Executive Order 11246, signed by
President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, which imposes
nondiscrimination and affirmative action requirements as a
condition of doing business with the Federal Government. The two
agencies agree to share information and coordinate investigations
of government contractors. Additionally, when EEOC finds a
violation of Title VII but is unable to secure an acceptable
agreement, then EEOC will refer the charge to DOL to institute an
enforcement action under the Executive Order.